Crooner skates
with Canucks
Michael Buble trades in his mic for a hockey stick during practice
Singer gets to live out his dream, while Canucks enjoy the break

COURTESY VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Michael Buble at an October book signing in London.

Michael Buble showed the Vancouver Canucks he can work a
hockey stick almost as well as a
microphone.
The Canadian pop star and lifelong hockey fan got a chance to
live a dream when he skated with
the Canucks during a practice Tuesday.
“It was just the greatest day of
my life, really,” Buble, a 36-yearold native of the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, told reporters. “I
had way too much fun. To get to
do that, I guess, is every fan’s wish.”
The Canucks also appreciated
the chance to skate with the multiple Grammy and Juno award winner.
“He’s one of the best singers in
the world, one of the most popular singers in the world, and he just
wanted to spend the morning with
his favourite team,” said winger
Alex Burrows. “That shows us that,
even when he’s got everything as
a singer, he still would like to spend

“I thought he
had Lou beat
on that
shootout,
and it would
have been
nice to see
him score.”
WINGER ALEX BURROWS,

Michael Buble, left, chats with
captain Henrik Sedin Tuesday.

ON BUBLE’S GAME

some time with us.”
Buble, a lifelong hockey fan who
is a minority owner of the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, wore
full Canucks gear, including a blue
jersey and hockey pants. He also
wore a helmet with no visor.
His only regret was that he did
not deke goaltender Roberto Luongo and put the puck “upstairs”
after racing in on goal with the
puck. He hit the post.
“He looked pretty good out
there, actually,” said Daniel Sedin.

Gift-giving doesn’t get easier than this.
RBC® Visa‡ Gift Cards make the perfect gifts for everyone on your gift-giving list.
Learn more at rbc.com/visagiftcard or at any RBC Royal Bank® branch.
®/TM Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. RBC and Royal Bank are registered trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. ‡ All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner(s). VPS66061

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault
was also impressed. But the bench
boss said he would have to put
Buble through a few “compete
drills” before giving a full assessment.
“It was a different moment from
a busy schedule for us,” Vigneault
said. “I think the boys enjoyed having him in the room.... When he
came in this morning, we gave him
the opportunity to showcase his
skill set — and he did.”
THE CANADIAN PRESS

03

metronews.ca

news: vancouver

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

1

Santa. Surprise

news

Scuba Claus swims in the Strait of Georgia tank at the Vancouver Aquarium on Tuesday.
JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

The jolly old fish?

Santa will appear in the tank daily at 11:30 a.m. through Dec. 24, when he trades in the sea
for the sky, the scuba gear for the sleigh, on Christmas Eve.

New Yorkers wishing to be
buried in pet cemeteries
with their furry friends
get good news from the state.
Scan the code for the story.

1

If you text, you could be a liar

Download the free
ScanLife app with
your smartphone
at 2dscan.com

2

You are more likely to lie when texting, UBC study shows People also experience a more
negative emotional reaction when lied to through texting Use the phone more: Researcher

Use your
smartphone to
scan 2D barcodes
in Metro

3

The codes will
direct your mobile
browser to
m.metronews.ca

RYAN REMIORZ/THE CANADIAN PRESS

KENDRA
WONG

VANCOUVER@METRONEWS.CA

Text messaging may be a
more convenient mode of
communication, but it
may lead people to be
more deceitful, according
to a new study by UBC researchers.
The study involved 170
student brokers and buyers performing mock
stock transactions in one
of four ways: face-to-face
or through video, audio
or text chatting.

Researchers found that
participants
who
received information via
text message were 95 per
cent more likely to report deception than if
they had interacted via
video, 31 per cent more
likely to report deception
compared to face-to-face
and 18 per cent more
likely to report deception
than audio.
Ronald Cenfetelli, professor at the Sauder
School of Business at UBC
and co-author of the pa-

Doing this could
make you lie more.

per, said he was surprised
that people’s reactions at
being lied to differed depending on the medium.

“Participants
were
likely to be more angry
when they were lied to
via text messaging,” he
said.
Cenfetelli hopes the
study will remind techsavvy users to reconsider
face-to-face or video interactions over text messaging when it comes to
transactions over eBay or
Craigslist.
“Personal interaction
tools, such as Skype are a
richer form of communication, you get eye con-

tact and gestures that
would mitigate lying and
cheating,” said Cenfetelli.
He suggested taking
the time to make a phone
call instead of sending an
email.
“Sometimes you have
to sacrifice convenience.
Avoid the temptation to
use these technologies,”
he advised. “Take the
time to do this over a
richer form of communication even though it
may take a couple of extra days.”

Inquest called in 2008 mushroom-farm tragedy
B.C.’s coroners service has
called a public inquest into
a tragic 2008 incident at a
Langley mushroom farm
that left three workers
dead and left two others
with severe brain damage.
On Sept. 5, 2008, Ut
Tran, 35, Han Pham, 47,
and Chi Wai (Jimmy) Chan,
55, died almost instantly

clair applauded Tuesday’s
decision.
“Many things went
wrong in the lead-up to the
tragedy and as the tragedy
unfolded,” Sinclair said in a
release. “A coroners inquest will help us understand what went wrong
and what can be done to
make farming safer.”

The inquest will begin
May 7, 2012, at the Coroners Court in Burnaby.
In May, the companies,
A-1 Mushroom Substratum
Ltd. and H.V. Truong, as
well as three directors,
pleaded guilty to 10
charges of violating health
and safety laws. They were
fined $350,000.

In a release Tuesday,
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said the inquest will
examine the broader circumstances of the incident
in an attempt to prevent
future deaths. The inquest
jury does not find fault or
responsibility but it can
make recommendations.
METRO

Police Chief Robert
Burks, in Tonasket,
Wash., says the 71-yearold Oliver, B.C., resident
didn’t know what to do,
so he kept driving.
The man and his wife
were driving home
from their vacation in
Oregon on Sunday
when she began suffering a medical condition
and died near Pasco,
Wash.

U.S. authorities say a
British Columbia man
drove about 360 kilometres towards Canada after his 75-year-old wife
died in the car next to
him, uncertain whether
he could cross the border with her.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VANCOUVER@METRONEWS.CA

Glowbal Restaurants got
into the spirit of giving
Tuesday, providing a homecooked meal for more than
2,000 residents on the
Downtown Eastside.
The third annual Table
for 2,000 was hosted at the
Union Gospel Mission
(UGM) at 601 East Hastings
St., where 250 volunteers
provided a Christmas meal
inside a heated tent.
“I think this is what the
holidays are supposed to
be about,” said Joanna
Schlosser, part of a volunteer team from Lululemon
Athletica.
Shannon Bosa Yacoub,
owner of Glowbal Restaurants, said she was overwhelmed
with
the
response after requesting
volunteers through social
media.
“We actually had a waitlist of volunteers, so we
just opened it up and
brought in everyone,” she
said.
UGM president Bill Mollard said the organization
served more than 3,400

Organ recipients
thank hospital

Annie Ramos serves a table of Downtown Eastside residents
at the Union Gospel Mission’s Table for 2,000 event on Tuesday.

meals last year at eight
sites across the Lower
Mainland and it’s an important way of connecting
the less privileged to the
greater community.
“The people who volunteer come away with a different perspective on the

people of the Downtown
Eastside,” said Mollard,
adding that the event provides an opportunity to approach
people
with
substance-abuse issues and
get them into treatment.
“We have a 79 per cent
success rate of keeping

them off drugs and alcohol
once they complete our
program,” Mollard said.
“It’s so much more than
a meal.”
For more local news
visit metronews.ca/
vancouver

By all accounts, David
Ewsebio is an average
healthy 12-year-old — he
plays soccer, saxophone
and has an interest in film.
But if it wasn’t for a heart
donor, David wouldn’t
have been alive today.
David and his family
came to BC Children’s Hospital on Tuesday to participate in Operation Popcorn,
an annual event where
transplant recipients return to thank the many
nurses, doctors and lab
specialists who have taken
care of them.
Sonia Ewsebio, David’s
mother, said his heart
problem was detected by
ultrasound while she was
pregnant with him. Since
the provincial health-care
system wasn’t equipped to
conduct infant heart transplants at the time, she was
flown to a medical univer-

DANIEL PALMER/FOR METRO

David Ewsebio

sity in California, where
she gave birth and waited
for a heart to become available.
Ewsebio waited only 10
days before her son was
given a chance at life, a
time frame much shorter
than for most families.
“Christmas is a time for
celebration of life, and we
all want to be among our
loved ones,” Ewsebio said.
“We are very blessed to celebrate another year with
David.” DANIEL PALMER

Superior Picture
*With over 1200 HD titles, and up to 120 HD Channels. HD Channel and content availability varies by region. Some calling restrictions may apply for phone services. All Shaw services are provided in accordance with Shaw’s Joint Terms of Use and Privacy Policy set out at shaw.ca †$100 Visa®
prepaid card offer available from December 1, 2011 to December 23, 2011 and subject to change without notice. By activating and using the Visa prepaid card you agree to subscribe for the new Shaw service (s) to which the Visa prepaid card offer relates for a period of six months. If you decide
to cancel such service (s) before the six month term is complete, you are required to reimburse Shaw for the full value of the Visa prepaid card(s) that you have received for each service cancelled. Shaw will not be responsible for lost, stolen, misplaced, faulty or damaged cards. Visa prepaid card
cannot be redeemed for cash and can be used everywhere Visa cards are accepted until November 15, 2012. Additional terms and conditions apply to the use of the Visa prepaid cards; which terms and conditions are set out at www.rewardearner.com/visa_universal_CA. Visa® is the registered
trademark of Visa International Service Association. Visa prepaid cards are issued by Peoples Trust Company pursuant to license by Visa Inc. **Offer available for new subscriptions of the applicable Shaw service package only and does not apply to upgrade of service package. Customer must have
not been subscribed for any package level of the desired Shaw service (s) within the past 90 days in order to qualify for the offer. Regular rates apply after promotional period. For details, visit www.shaw.ca. Prices shown do not include tax. Channels and programming availability varies by market.

Egyptian women call for change
Military issues statement of regret for violations against women
Around 10,000 women
marched through central
Cairo demanding Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
ruling military step down
Tuesday in an unprecedented show of outrage over
soldiers
who
dragged
women by the hair and
stomped on them, and
stripped one half-naked in
the street during a fierce
crackdown on activists
over the past week.
The dramatic protest,
which grew as the women
marched
from
Tahrir
Square through downtown,
was fuelled by the widely
circulated images of abuses
of women. Many of the
marchers touted the photo
of the young woman whose
clothes were partially
pulled off by troops, baring
her down to her blue bra,
as she struggled on the
ground.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tantawi stripped your
women naked, come join

AMR NABIL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Scare tactics?

Women march during a protest against the crackdown
by authorities on protesters in Cairo Tuesday.

Many accused the military
of intentionally targeting
women to scare them and
their male relatives from
joining protests against the
generals.
Previously, the military has
implied women who joined
protests were of loose
morals.
In March, soldiers subjected detained female protesters to humiliating tests to
determine if they were virgins.

us,â&#x20AC;? the crowd chanted to
passersby, referring to Field
Marshal Hussein Tantawi,
the head of the military
council that has ruled
Egypt since the Feb. 11 fall
of Hosni Mubarak. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The
daughters of Egypt are a
red line, they chanted.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GE IS PLEASED TO OFFER ADDITIONAL SPECIAL
DISCOUNTS ON ALL MAJOR APPLIANCES.

â&#x2013;

END OF LINE

â&#x2013;

SCRATCH & DENT

Clinton slams Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security forces

â&#x2013;

UNCRATES

â&#x2013;

SAVE UP TO

50%
OFF MSRP

$ECEMBER nd and 23rd
AM TO PM
2606 Nootka Street, Vancouver BC
s VANCOUVERSTORE MABECA
ALL PRODUCTS INCLUDE ONE YEAR FUNCTIONAL WARRANTY.
TAKE WITH YOU OR DELIVERY CAN BE ARRANGED.

• $75 in-store credit on accessories4
• All long distance calls across Canada are now local5
• Get unlimited evenings and weekends from 6 p.m.6

Visit a Bell store • 1 888 4-MOBILE (662453) • bell.ca/holidaysale

Also available at these retailers:

Offer ends December 31, 2011. Available with compatible devices within network coverage areas available from Bell Mobility. Paper bill charge ($2/mo.) applies unless you register for e-bill and cancel your paper bill. Other monthly fees, e.g., 911 (New Brunswick: $0.53, Nova Scotia: $0.43, P.E.I.: $0.50, Quebec: $0.40, Saskatchewan: $0.62) apply.
A one-time device activation fee ($35) applies. Upon early termination, price adjustments apply; see your Service Agreement for details. 30 days advance notice of termination required where not prohibited by law. Subject to change without notice; not combinable with other offers. Taxes extra. Other conditions apply. (1) With new activation on a 2-yr.
term on a post-paid voice and data plan or a post-paid voice plan and a data feature with a min. value of $50/mo. (2) With new activation on a 3-yr. term on a post-paid voice plan. (3) With new activation on a 3-yr. term on a post-paid voice and data plan or a post-paid voice plan and a data feature with a min. value of $50/mo. (4) With new activation on
a 3-yr. term, excludes iPhone and Galaxy Nexus. Credit applies at the time of purchase on the price of the device and/or accessories in-store before taxes. (5) Available to residents of Alberta and British Columbia with new activation or renewal on a 3-yr. term on a voice and data plan or Fab 10 promo plan with a min. value of $50/mo. Applies to long
distance calls made and received in Canada, in Bell Mobility coverage areas. Standard airtime charges apply. (6) With new activation. HTC Wildﬁre S is a trademark of HTC Corporation. Samsung Galaxy 551 is a trade-mark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., used in Canada under license. MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion® and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. “LG”, the “LG logo” and “LG Optimus Net” are the property of LG Corp and its afﬁliates.

08

metronews.ca

news

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

CONTRIBUTED

TV dishes out
cannibalism

Canadian content ranked
high on YouTube’s lists of
the most-watched videos
in 2011 but still could not
top the web phenomenon
that was Rebecca Black’s
song Friday.
In second place on
Canadian and international lists was Ultimate Dog
Tease by Halifax’s Andrew
Grantham.
Third on Canada’s list
and eighth internationally
was the cover of Lady
Gaga’s Born This Way by
Winnipeg’s Maria Aragon.

Dutch presenters to eat a small chunk of one
another’s fried flesh Lawyer: Not expressly illegal
A Dutch broadcaster —
renowned for testing the
limits of good taste and
the law — says it will air a
segment in which two presenters engage in cannibalism by eating a small
chunk of one another’s
fried flesh.
A BNN spokesman said
Tuesday the men had each
had a small piece of tissue
surgically removed for the
stunt — one from his side
and the other from his buttocks.
Presenter Dennis Storm
said in a press release that
his motivation was a simple desire to know how human flesh tastes.
A teaser clip for the
show Guinea Pigs, which

Canadian
content
ranks high
on YouTube

Won an Emmy
In 2007, BNN aired a fake game show in which people who
needed kidney transplants competed on live television for a
supposedly terminally ill woman’s kidney. The woman was
an actress and the show was a hoax, but it was praised by
some for raising awareness of the need for donors and went
on to win an international Emmy award.
BNN, which targets a youth audience, has previously aired
programs such as Shooting and Swallowing in which presenters used illegal drugs and performed sex acts.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

expressly illegal in the
Netherlands.
However, “cutting and
removing flesh from a
healthy body without medical reason is illegal,”
Spong said. “Eating meat
obtained in this way is ...
punishable.”

1T
Winnipeg’s Maria Aragon appears in a Gap commercial.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Overall, YouTube said
it processed more than
one trillion video
views over the course
of the year.

Q
ua W
nt h
iti ile
es
La
s

t

airs Wednesday, shows the
two men looking on as a
chef fries tiny pieces of
meat in a pan.
Gerard Spong, one of
the country’s best-known
criminal defence lawyers,
is participating in the program, and was quoted saying that cannibalism is not

Don’t get ripped off
when you sell your
gold and silver!
We have been the #1 choice since 1967

Diamonds Buying 20 pt. and up

We are particularly interested in
larger diamonds of 1 carat and up.

As the price of gold reached a record high, the Better Business Bureau warned
sellers across B.C. to beware of scammers hoping to rip off people cashing in.
Prices for the precious metal have soared over $1,700 an ounce, and BBB
President Lynda Pasacreta says that she's seen a corresponding increase in people
falling victim to unscrupulous buyers. "We've noticed that, especially in the online
world, people are sending in their gold, and then they're either being disappointed with
the price they're being quoted or they're not hearing anything -- [the gold] just kind of
disappears," she told CTV News."The BBB is currently handling 19 complaints against
a single gold-buying company in mainland B.C." There are no complaints about
J&M. We are well known to pay the best prices in town.
See the CTV interview online at:
http://www.bullioncoinsandbars.com/article-2011-08-09-bbb.htm
See the Global TV BC segment on record gold prices, including a visit
to J&M’s Vancouver store at:
http://www.bullioncoinsandbars.com/article-2011-07-18-record.htm

1948 $1 .............................. $900.00 and up
1890H 50¢ ......................... $500.00 and up
1875H 25¢ ......................... $200.00 and up
1889 10¢ ............................ $350.00 and up
1921 5¢ ........................... $4,000.00 and up
1923 1¢ ................................ $14.00 and up

Indonesia’s punks
resist crackdown
Attempt to reform youth part of Aceh authorities’
efforts to restore moral values in line with Islamic laws
An inscription on a pair of slippers sitting outside a
mosque at a police school in Aceh, Indonesia.

Mohawks buzzed and noses
free of piercings, dozens of
youths march in military-

THE CONSEQUENCES STAY WITH YOU FOREVER.
MAKE IT STOP. DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE.
Every day, an average of 4 Canadians are killed in impaired driving crashes.
Stay safe. Stay sober if you drive. Support MADD Canada and donate today.
Together we can drive change and help keep our roads safer for everyone.
Proud Partner

Go to Facebook.com/kiacanada
madd.ca
KIA is a trademark of Kia Motors Corporation.

style for hours beneath Indonesia’s tropical sun —
part of efforts by authorities
to restore moral values and
bring the “deviants” back
into the mainstream.
But the young men and
women have shown no
signs of bending.
When commanders turn
their backs, the shouts ring
out: “Punk will never die!”
Fists are thrown in the air
and peace signs flashed. A
few have managed briefly
to escape, heads held high
as they are dragged back.
Sixty-five young punk
rockers arrived at this police detention centre last
week after baton-wielding
police crashed a concert in
Aceh — the only province
in this predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to
have imposed Islamic laws.
They will be released Friday, after completing 10
days of “rehabilitation,”
from classes on good behaviour and religion to
military-style drills aimed
at instilling discipline.
Yudi, 19, who goes by only one name, says it’s not
working.
He tried unsuccessfully
to shake off police when
they took an electric razor
to his spiky mohawk. At the

Aceh’s autonomy
The crackdown marked the
latest effort by authorities
to promote strict moral
values in Aceh, which, unlike other provinces in the
sprawling archipelagic nation, enjoys semi-autonomy from the central
government.
That was part of a peace
deal negotiated after the
2004 tsunami off Aceh convinced separatist rebels
and the army to lay down
their arms.

sight of his hair scattered in
the grass, he recalls, tears
rolled down his face.
“They can’t change me,”
Yudi insisted. “I love punk. I
don’t feel guilty about my
lifestyle. Why should I?
There’s nothing wrong with
it.”
His girlfriend, Intan Natalia, 20, agrees. Her bleachblond hair has been cut into
a bob and dyed black, but
she’s been forced to cover it
up with a headscarf.
“They can say what they
want, but I like life as a
punk,” she says. “It suits
me.”
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Resolutions can wait...
reservations can’t.
January 20 – February 5, 2012
Our festival events are delicious fun and include last
season’s favourites and new culinary adventures.
You’re about to experience the tastiest 17 days of the year.

PRESENTED BY

Eat!

Stay!

Menus and reservations January 9th

Exclusive room rates and packages

Play!
PREMIERE SPONSOR

Menus released and reservations
accepted January 5

Plated & Paired at the Public Market

Act I Eat 1

January 20

Jan 26, 28, 29, 30 Feb 3

The Wines of British Columbia and Granville Island
Public Market present this unique launch to your
Dine Out Vancouver Festival experience.

The PuSh Performing Arts Festival and the Arts Club
Theatre Company present five evenings of long table
dining paired to unique theatrical performances.

news
Premiers
express
dismay
over health
negotiations
Premiers who feel slighted
by the federal government
on health-care funding expressed their frustration
Tuesday at Ottawaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tone
and position in what they
thought were supposed to
be negotiations on a longterm deal.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think the process is
unfortunate,â&#x20AC;? said
Saskatchewanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Brad Wall.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think the finance ministers were expecting the beginning of a round of
consultation and, at least
on the transfer piece, that
does not appear to be what
the federal governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
doing. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re saying,
hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the deal.â&#x20AC;?
British Columbia hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
expressed the same outrage
as other provinces, but Finance Minister Kevin
Falcon said he has concerns
with the per capita formula
being used by Ottawa
because it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take into
account the rising health
costs associated with an aging population.
At Mondayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meeting,
Flaherty said Ottawa plans
to continue increasing
health transfer payments at
six per cent annually for
the next six years. After
that, he said transfer
payments will be tied to
the rate of economic
growth and inflation,
which gives the provinces
and territories certain and
stable health funding.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We all realize that public finances relate to
revenues and we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pretend that we can spend
money that we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have,â&#x20AC;?
he said. THE CANADIAN PRESS

13

metronews.ca
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

White. Christmas

Stormy
weather
takes
States by
surprise

Kevin Wesson shovels a path for customers at the Water Still in Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday morning after an overnight
storm covered the region with about an inch of ice and snow. Several major thoroughfares were closed after the storm
clipped the northwest part of the state the day before the oďŹ&#x192;cial start of winter.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER/AMARILLO GLOBE-NEWS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fierce winds and snow
that caused fatal
accidents and shuttered
highways in five states
crawled deeper into the
central U.S. early
Tuesday, with
forecasters warning
that pre-holiday travel
would be difficult if not
impossible across the
region. Authorities said
six people have died as
a result of the bad
weather.

Ontario researcher develops HIV vaccine
University of Western Ontario claims vaccine is the only one of its kind being developed
in Canada Will be produced in the U.S. Canada lacks facilities that meet standards
ANGELA MULLINS/METRO

Yong Kang has played a role
in developing vaccines for
polio and hepatitis B.
Now, the University of
Western Ontario researcher
has earned approval from
the U.S. government to
start human clinical trials
on what could be a breakthrough vaccination for
preventing HIV.
The vaccine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; technically named SAV001 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is the
result of nearly 20 years
worth of work at Western
labs.
Kang, a molecular virologist, started studying the
way HIV reproduces after
landing in London during

University of Western Ontario researcher Yong Kang
speaks Tuesday at the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research park
about a vaccine he has developed to prevent HIV-AIDS.

the early 1990s. About 10
years ago, he turned his focus toward developing a
vaccine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; something that
he first thought would be a

relatively simply task.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Turns out, it was a very
challenging problem,â&#x20AC;? he
said.
With the first of three

trial phases set to begin in
January, best-case scenario
would see Kangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s product
on the market in five years.
His vaccine attacks the
whole virus instead of attacking bits and pieces,
which is the way vaccines
in previous HIV trials
worked.
While HIV has been his
key subject for many years,
Kang said thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no one
thing that drew him to the
disease, except maybe the
number of people it affects.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I like to save lives,â&#x20AC;? he
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we can save
millions.â&#x20AC;?
ANGELA MULLINS IN LONDON, ONT.

Call Canada, U.S.,
India, and China

Trial stages
Phase 1: Double-check the
safety of the vaccine in
humans. Will involve
about 40 HIV-positive
volunteers.
Phase 2: Measure immune
responses. Will involve
about 600 volunteers in
the high-risk category for
infection.
Phase 3: Measure the
vaccineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to
produce results. Will
involve about 6,000
volunteers in the high-risk
category for infection.

Scan with your mobile
application for more rates.
Or visit
www.telehop.com/1010620

Based on average residential usage. Calls to cell phones may be at a different rate. Rates subject to change without notice. *Telehop is not responsible for any airtime charges incured on your Fido cell.Terms and conditions apply, please see website for details.

A tense and sometimes confrontational Piers Morgan
stood his ground before a
judge-led inquiry into media ethics Tuesday, denying
any connection to illegal
phone hacking that has resulted in the closure of the
newspaper he once edited
and the arrest of friends
and former colleagues.
But the celebrity interviewer, who edited the
News of the World Sunday

“I’m not going to discuss where I heard
it (a message) or who played it to me.”
PIERS MORGAN, CNN CELEBRITY INTERVIEWER

and the Daily Mirror, refused to answer questions
about the damning link between himself and scandal
— his 2006 acknowledgment that he had once listened to a poignant phone
message left by former Beatle Paul McCartney for his
ex-wife Heather Mills.

Piers Morgan answers
a media inquiry’s questions
Tuesday via video from
the U.S.

Mills has charged that
there was no honest way
Morgan could have heard
the message. Pressed by the
inquiry chief as to whether
he could say anything to
substantiate that he had obtained the message legally,
Morgan said he could not.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

High. Inflation

Regular Price:
You Save:
Discount:
Grocery prices were up 5.7 per cent in November
compared with a year ago as consumers saw double-digit
increases for such basics as fresh vegetables and bread,
Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

CURRENT DEALS

DANNY JOHNSTON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Food, gas prices rise
Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that Canada’s
annual inflation rate remained high at 2.9 per cent
last month as Canadians continued to pay more for
food and gasoline than they had 12 months earlier.

$500 Loan
and more
Fast,
easy and
secure

TSX

Dollar

+ 177.18
(11,716.88)

+ 0.79¢
(97.06¢ US)

OIL

Natural
gas
$3.128 US
(+ 3.2¢ US)

+ 3.34¢ US
($97.22 US)

Gold
$1,617.60 US
(+ $20.90 US)

PRICES AS OF 5 P.M.TUESDAY

Follow us on:

Market
moment

MEMBERS GET

A HOT NEW BLACKBERRY WITH
EXCLUSIVE MUSIC BENEFITS.
Get BBM Music on us for up to 90 days when you buy a new BlackBerry. Create a music profile, then share it
with your BBM friends. The more friends you have, the more music you collect.
TM

TM

16999

$

0

$

7999

$

Get hot BlackBerry plans from $45/mo.
Visit virginmobile.ca for details.

Limited time offer. Taxes not included. In-store credits highlighted available at Virgin Mobile stores only. In-store credits and gift cards may vary by retailer. Only valid on new activations with a 3-year term or on the Virgin Mobile SuperTabTM. Cannot be combined with any other offers, unless otherwise indicated. Some phone
models and colours may not be available at retailers. BBM Music offer valid from Dec 1-31, 2011. New BBM Music users only. See virginmobile.ca for complete details and restrictions. Member BeneďŹ ts may change without notice. The VIRGIN trademark and family of associated marks are owned by Virgin Enterprises Limited
and used under licence. All other trademarks are trademarks of Virgin Mobile Canada or trademarks and property of the respective owners.

16

metronews.ca

voices

RIP FEARLESS
HITCHENS
JUST
SAYIN’ ...

It’s tough, writing an appreciation of Christopher Hitchens,
the brilliant essayist and
author of God Is Not Great:
PAUL SULLIVAN
How Religion Poisons
METRO
Everything and the memoir
Hitch 22, to name a couple.
Hitchens died last week, and an impressive array of pundits have tried to punch
above their weight and write about
Hitchens as well as Hitchens wrote about
himself.
The results have been admirable,
although we could do without the manly memoirs from
those who tried to match the master drink for drink and
stay on their barstools. Typical of this school is Graydon
Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, who wrote that after having more drinks at lunch than most of us have in a
lifetime at lunch, they stumbled back to the office and
Hitchens “produced a 1,000-word column of near perfection in under half an hour.”
The other unsettling
thing about the coverage is
“When you’re a
it’s universally by guys
writer, intellectual that
about a guy. Hitchens
freedom is your
famously maintained that
women aren’t funny, and as
most precious
far as I can tell, most women
resource. Unless
continue to hold that
you write the
against him.
truth (as you
Otherwise, just about
everything you could ever
know it, in your
say, hope to say or imagine
heart) with
that someone, someday
complete
might say has been written
fearlessness, you about Christopher Hitchens.
So why bother to add to the
are producing
pile?
weasel poop.”
Maybe it’s because, as
Carter writes, “you felt as
though he was writing to you and to you alone.” We all
had a front row seat to The Show thanks to Hitchens, who
would tackle any topic on our behalf, from Mother Teresa,
whom he detested as the benign, loving face of
oppression, to Holocaust denier David Irving, tolerating
him and his odious outlook in the name of intellectual
freedom.
When you’re a writer, intellectual freedom is your most
precious resource. Unless you write the truth (as you
know it, in your heart) with complete fearlessness, you
are producing weasel poop. At best.
Hitchens was completely fearless. He proved it time and
again, but most of all when he turned his back on the left
to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, arguing that “Islamofascism” is the greatest threat of our time. It started when
the Ayatollah of Iran put a fatwah (a kind of assassination
contract with religious trappings) on his good friend
Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses.
If it weren’t three sentences long, this quote about the
fatwah from his memoir should be written on his tomb:
“It was, if I can phrase it like this, a matter of everything I
hated versus everything I loved. In the hate column: dictatorship, religion, stupidity, demagogy, censorship, bullying and intimidation. In the love column: literature, irony,
humour, the individual and the defense of free
expression.”
Christopher Hitchens, wherever you are, let ‘er RIP.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

Register at
metropolitanpanel.ca
and take the quick poll

Local tweets

Five days left. Have you ﬁnished your
shopping?
45%

UGH, DON’T MAKE ME
THINK ABOUT IT

26%

I WRAPPED IT UP
THIS WEEKEND

29%

OH YES, WEEKS AGO

@bcfed:
Coroner’s
Inquest gives
hope
mushroom farm deaths will
leave legacy of safer
farms:#bcpoli #wcb #worksafe
@mattsekeres: Just scanned
through prelim WJC rosters,
and looks like W Nicklas
Jensen (DEN) will be only
Canucks prospect at the
tournament. #canucks
@VanCanucks: Who did we
find in practice gear on the
ice? None other than
Michael Buble.
pic.twitter.com/KfyeiqkW
@iam_canuck: Michael Bu-

ble was practicing with the
Canucks this morning? And
I thought I couldn’t love
him any more...
@Whistlerbrewing: Happy
Holidays to everyone! Hope
you’re taking a little time
out from the bustle to enjoy
your favorite brews!
@ArtemChubarov: Wild
haven’t won in 9 in Vancouver, got shutout by Luongo
(after an MST beat-writer
laughed in his face), have
lost 4 in a row. Today rules.
@TheHaidaGirl: Great time
at the canucks game last
night...too bad they put me
and my bro on the kiss cam
lol

SHIKHEI GOH/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Hang in there, bug!

Fly battles rain
to win contest
WILDLIFE. It looks like one
of those classic, endearing
“Hang in there, baby” motivational posters. This
dragonfly in Indonesia’s
Riau Islands seems to cling
on to a reed to brave a torrent of rain. The photo by
Shikhei Goh beat 20,000
entries to win the 2011 National Geographic Photography Contest. MWN

“It suddenly
rained, but the
lighting was just
superb. The result
caused me to be
overjoyed.”
SHIKHEI GOH, PHOTOGRAPHER

Judges’ views
Amy Toensing:
“When I look at it, I want
to say, ‘Hold on tight, little
buddy!’”
Peter Essick”
“It’s rare indeed to see a
photograph that causes
the viewer to feel a bond
with a member of the
animal world seemingly,
but maybe not, so unlike
our own.”

ON NOW AT YOUR BC CHEVROLET DEALERS. Chevrolet.ca 1-800-GM-DRIVE. Chevrolet is a brand of General Motors of Canada. */â&#x20AC; Offers apply to the purchase of a 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LS Sedan (R7A) equipped as described. Freight included ($1,495). License, insurance, registration, PPSA, administration fees and taxes not included. Dealers are free to set individual prices. Offer available to retail customers in Canada. Limited time offers which may
not be combined with other offers, and are subject to change without notice. Offers apply to qualified retail customers in BC Chevrolet Dealer Marketing Association area only. Dealer order or trade may be required. GMCL, Ally Credit or TD Financing Services may modify, extend or terminate this offer in whole or in part at any time without notice. Conditions and limitations apply. See Chevrolet dealer for details. Î&#x201D;2012 Chevrolet Sonic Sedan equipped with
standard 1.8L ECOTEC I-4 engine and 5-speed manual transmission. Fuel consumption ratings based on GM Testing in accordance with approved Transport Canada test methods. Your actual fuel consumption may vary. RBluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG Inc. VWhichever comes first. Conditions and limitations apply. See dealer for details.â&#x2C6;&#x17E;Available on iPhoneÂŽ and select Androidâ&#x201E;˘ platforms. Visit onstar.ca for coverage map, details
and system limitations. Services may vary by model and conditions.â&#x20AC; 4.29% purchase financing offered by GMCL for 72 months on 2012 Chevrolet Sonic Sedan LS R7A. O.A.C by TD Bank. Rates from other lenders will vary. Example: $10,000 at 4.29% APR, monthly payment is $157.78 for 72 months. Cost of borrowing is $1,360.16, total obligation is $11,360.16. Down payment, trade and/or security deposit may be required. Monthly payment and cost
of borrowing will vary depending on amount borrowed and down payment/trade. ÂĽNo purchase necessary. Contest open to Canadian residents with a valid driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license who have reached the age of majority in their province of residence. Contest runs from November 1, 2011 to January 16, 2012. Credit Awards include applicable taxes and can only be applied to the purchase or lease of a new 2011 or 2012 MY GM vehicle delivered from dealer stock,
excluding Chevrolet Volt on or before January 16, 2012. 20 Vehicle Awards consist of either a 2012 GMC Terrain SLE2 FWD + 18â&#x20AC;? Machined Aluminum Wheels, Chrome Appearance Package and Rear Cargo Security Cover or a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox 2LT FWD + 18â&#x20AC;? Machined Aluminum Wheels. Factory order may be required for Vehicle Awards. Approximate retail value of each Vehicle Award is Equinox / Terrain [$32,775 MSRP / $32,480 MSRP] CDN,
including freight. Not all awards have the same odds of winning. Correct answer to skill testing question required to claim an award. Some examples of odds are: to receive a $1,000 base award, 1 in 1; to receive a total award of $1,200, 1 in 30; to receive a total award of $10,000, 1 in 10,000; to receive a Vehicle Award, 1 in 20,000 (total awards and vehicle awards include the $1,000 base award). See your GM dealer, visit gm.ca or call 1-800-GM-DRIVE
for full contest rules.WWTo qualify for GMCLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cash for Clunkers incentive, you must: turn in a 2005 or older MY vehicle that is in running condition and has been registered and properly insured in your name, or under a small business name, for the last 3 months. GMCL will provide eligible consumers with an incentive to be used towards the purchase or lease of a new eligible 2011 or 2012 MY Buick/Chevrolet/GMC/Cadillac vehicle delivered between
October 1, 2011 and January 3, 2012. Incentive amount ranges from $500 to $3,000 (tax inclusive), depending on model purchased; incentive may not be combined with certain other offers. By participating in GMCLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cash For Clunkers program your vehicle will not be eligible for any trade-in value. See your participating GM dealer for additional program details. GMCL may modify, extend or terminate program in whole or in part at any time without notice.

False reports of
Jon Bon Jovi’s
death spread online after a fake
news release surfaced on social
media sites. Bon
Jovi released a
statement Tuesday
showing that he is
very much still
alive.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

metronews.ca
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

A Swedish invasion

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has spurred a demand for Scandinavian backdrops in new
films But that’s nothing new to Hollywood Sweden has always been a cinema focal point
HANDOUT

IN FOCUS
RICHARD CROUSE
SCENE@METRONEWS.CA

These days it
seems there
are almost as
many movies
set in Sweden
as there are
Billy
bookshelves in college dorms.
The original Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo books and
movie series kicked off a
thirst for all things Scandinavian.
Headhunters, a Norwegian noir, was a big hit recently at the Toronto
International Film Festival
and Let the Right One In
placed vampires against a
snowy,
stark
white
Swedish backdrop.
This weekend the Americanized version of Girl
With the Dragon Tattoo
opens, starring Daniel
Craig and Rooney Mara in
the roles Swedish superstars Michael Nyqvist and
Noomi Repace made famous. Shot in Sweden, the
movie promises open landscapes, the crunch of snow
underfoot and even the
odd fjord.
Suddenly, it seems people are hungry for movies
from Sweden, Norway and
Denmark, but there has always been a smorgasbord
of cinema available from
that part of the world.
No discussion of Scandi-

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has set oﬀ a demand for all things Scandinavian.

navian cinema can be complete without mentioning
Ingmar Bergman. Woody
Allen named him “the
greatest film artist since
the invention of the motion picture camera,” and
Francis
Ford
Coppola
called him “my all-time
favourite.”
If you haven’t seen The
Seventh Seal or Wild
Strawberries, you should;
they are both classics. But
you have undoubtedly
seen movies inspired by or
parodying
Bergman’s

work.
His famous Seventh
Seal scene of Death playing chess has been mimicked in everything from
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
to Woody Allen’s play
Death Knocks, which features a man playing gin
rummy with Death.
More recently a Norwegian mockumenary called
Troll Hunter earned praise
from critics all over the
world. One writer said this
Blair-Witch-style story of
cave-dwelling trolls and

the government-sponsored
hunters who track them
was “destined to be a classic of its kind.”
Another said, “You’ll
want to catch this clever
movie before Hollywood
ruins everything with a
dumb remake.”
Denmark has a thriving
film industry. Since 1956
they’ve entered 40 flicks
for Best Foreign Film consideration at the Academy
Awards.
At last year’s Oscars Susanne Bier’s drama In a

Better World beat Canada’s entry Incendies to
take home Best Foreign
Film.
The best-known Danish
films of recent years have
been made by Lars von Trier, the distinctive and controversial
director
of
Breaking the Waves and
this year’s Melancholia.
As well known for his depressed behaviour as he is
for his films, Von Trier
once said, “Basically, I’m
afraid of everything in life,
except filmmaking.”

Based on three of Hergé’s
original Tintin books, The
Adventures of Tintin is a
long series of clues strung
together to form the story
and connect the action
scenes. But despite the wellloved characters and Andy
Serkis’s brilliant work, this
is a Steven Spielberg movie
through and through.
Using a mix of motion

SILVERCITY COQUITLAM:
(PG) Wed-Thu 1-3:50-6:50-9:35

ESPLANADE 6: (PG) No Passes Wed 1
No Passes Wed 3:50-7-9:40

STRAWBERRY HILL
GRANDE: (PG) Wed-Thu 12-2:40-5:20-

SILVERCITY RIVERPORT: (PG)

8-10:40

No Passes Wed-Thu 11:10-1:55-4:35-7:25-10:20

STUDIO 12 GUILDFORD: (PG) ,

DOLPHIN CINEMAS: (PG) Wed-

Wed-Thu 12:30-3:30-6:15-9

Thu 12:30-2:40-4:50-7-9:05

COLOSSUS LANGLEY: (PG)

SILVERCITY METROPOLIS:

Wed-Thu 12:40-4:05-7:10-10

(PG) Wed-Thu 2:35-5:15-7:55-10:35

capture and CGI he is finally able to recreate the giant
set pieces he has always
been fond of in boldface.
The motorcycle chase

through a North African
town, a plane crash in the
desert and a swashbuckling
flashback are all spectacular, exhilarating sequences,

but they feel more Spielbergian than Tintin-ian.
I’m not sure if Hergé
purists will appreciate the
director’s vision imposed

on their beloved characters
but for everyone else The
Adventures of Tintin is
good, escapist fun.
RICHARD CROUSE

ADVERTORIAL

Follow the rest of our list in upcoming issues.
Molson Canadian 67 is a premium light beer specially brewed to 67 calories per 341 ml bottle.
Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about half the calories of wines or mixed drinks.* Want to add to our list?
Share your tips with us at facebook.com/molsoncanadian67
Must be legal drinking age. *Calculations based on average serving (6 oz glass of wine and single serving of mixed drink). Details at molsoncanadian67.ca
**Source: Metropolitan Panel. 462 English, 154 French respondents. December 2011. â&#x20AC; Recipe provided by Martini Club of Toronto, December 2011.

20

metronews.ca

scene

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

A look at odds and ends of music
in 2011 with best hook, best
comeback and best music video

Who

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

rocked

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

Best guilty pleasure song:

Tonight, Tonight AND I
Like It Like That by Hot
Chelle Rae.

Her best guest appearance
is on David Guetta’s Turn
Me On, a future hit that
highlights the rapper’s
singing chops.

2011?

Best use of Nicki Minaj:

Last year, Nicki Minaj
costarred on many songs,
but this year she focused
more on her solo efforts.

Beyoncé
This diva released a whopping seven music videos in
six months, and honestly,
most of them are average.
But Beyoncé is a killer on
the dance floor, and in the
Run the World (Girls) clip,
her moves are infectious
and mind-blowing.

Beyoncé performs on ABC’s Good
Morning America, in New York in July.

Best Katy Perry single:

Katy Perry has a slew of
No.1 hits, but her best
song this year was the
Ke$ha-sounding party jam
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
It’s hard not to love lyrics
like: “Think I need a Ginger Ale/that was such an
epic fail.”
Best remix:

Adele and reggae? No way!
But Jamie xx’s remix of the
British singer’s Rolling In
the Deep (dubbed Rolling
In the Heat) is fun, epic
and sweat-inducing.

Best award show
performance

Kelly Rowland’s live rendition of Motivation at the
BET Awards reminded
viewers
that
training
alongside Beyoncé for
years has a plus-side: Rowland’s vocals were crisp
and her sexy dance moves
helped her come off like a
contemporary version of
Janet Jackson.
Best inane lyric:

Insert LMFAO song here.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rihanna

Best Hook: The
chorus of Rihanna’s
S&M is downright
nasty, so we can’t
repeat it here, but
it’s downright
catchy, too. Na, na,
na, na, c’mon!

ONE OF THE TOP 10 FILMS OF THE YEAR
“

“

”

”
‘‘DAVID FINCHER HAS CRAFTED THE MOST

PERFECT
FAMILY FARE.

DIZZYINGLY EFFECTIVE
MOVIE YOU COULD IMAGINE OF

‘THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TA|OO.’

rooNEY MArA IS

A rEVELAtION.

SHE WEARS HER PIERCINGS LIKE SCARS AND

ACTS WiTH A QUiET POWER-

a rAGE CHiLLED iNTO SILENCEthat is aLMOST GHOSTLY. FINChER AND HIS

splendid casT TEasE OUT THE FULL

MYThOLOGiCAL

GrANDEUr

OF ThE MATEriAL.’’
ow e N gl e i be r m λ N

IN
SEXUAL VIOLENCE

VIOLENCE

STARTS TODAY

CHECK THEATRE DIRECTORY FOR LOCATIONS AND SHOWTIMES

STARTS TODAY

Check Theatre Directory or SonyPicturesReleasing.ca for Locations and Showtimes

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

Lady and
the Trump

Just how has Lady Gaga become the global sensation
she is today? Why, taste-maker Donald Trump, of course
ALL PHOTOS GETTY IMAGES

THE WORD
DOROTHY ROBINSON
SCENE@METRONEWS.CA

ToupĂŠed reality
TV star Donal
Trump says because
Lady
Gaga
performed at the
2008 Miss Universe pageant,
which Trump
owns, he should get all of
the credit for her success.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We always have an entertainer,â&#x20AC;? he says.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had a lot of great
people, and you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pay
them anything because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
one of the biggest audiences and my people told
me, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Nobody knows who
she is but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this
woman with good talent
named Lady Gaga.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
And I said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Give me a
break.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And then they said,
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really good.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; So I said,
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care, if you like her,
put her on.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?
Interesting. And here we
always thought it was the
gays who propelled Lady
Gaga to international star-

Lady Gaga

dom.
Did Donald Trump also
discover Key West?

Donald Trump

Demi Moore

Demi
Moore
wants to
empower
you

The Conversation, Demi
Mooreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new talk show on
which she serves as the Executive Producer, is on
schedule to air next month
on Lifetime with British TV
personality Amanda De Cadenet as host.
The Conversation,
which claims to be about
empowering women, has
already nabbed such guests
as Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow, Olivia Wilde and Jane
Fonda.
Apparently, they plan on
â&#x20AC;&#x153;empowering womenâ&#x20AC;? by
asking these extremely successful women such questions as â&#x20AC;&#x153;What is your
favourite sex position?â&#x20AC;?
and â&#x20AC;&#x153;What do you lie
about?â&#x20AC;?
Maybe instead of such
inane questions, The Conversation would empower
females better if these
celebs talked to women
about the importance of education, birth control, and
how to fight sexism in the
work place.
Besides, everyone knows
that for Gwyneth Paltrow,
the answer is â&#x20AC;&#x153;missionary.â&#x20AC;?
DOROTHY ROBINSON

Was James
Franco a
D-student
at university?
Former New York University professor Jose Angel
Santana claims the
school fired him for
giving James Franco
a D, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suing to
get his job back, according to the New
York Post.
Santana claims the
low grade was due to
Franco
missing 12
out of 14
classes,
though
he says
the
school
sided
with

their famous student.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In
my
opinion,
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve turned the
NYU graduate film
degree into swag for
James Francoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purposes, a possession,
something you can
buy,â&#x20AC;? Santana tells
the newspaper.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The University has
done everything in
its power
to curry
favour
with
James
Franco.â&#x20AC;?
METRO

Is it
wrong
that the
only time
Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been in
the gym in the last month
is to buy peanut butter
smoothies? I try my best to
lunge in and out.
@ZooeyDeschanel

this weather
just makes
me feel like
eating.

22

metronews.ca

travel

3
life

Travel in brief

Eight casinos on the
Las Vegas Strip are
planning a co-ordinated fireworks
show as part of Sin
City’s annual New
Year’s Eve celebration. Officials said
Wednesday that
more than 56,000
effects will light up
the sky as part of a
nearly nine-minute
show featuring a
medley of songs.
Eight casinos will be
used as firing locations: Tropicana Las
Vegas, MGM Grand,
Aria, Planet
Hollywood, Caesars
Palace, Treasure Island, the Venetian
and the
Stratosphere.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tired of the dreariness of winter and in need of some sunshine? Welcome to Mexico’s
seaside town of Puerto Vallarta There’s more than just sunny days in this port town
BRENDA NUÑEZ

BRENDA
NUNEZ

Shop

LIFE@METRONEWS.CA

‘Vallarta’, as locals call it,
is a quaint village nestled
in Banderas Bay that opens
out into the Pacific Ocean.
One of Mexico’s most cosmopolitan cities, it’s also
the country’s gay capital.
Blessed with year round
warm temperatures, the
sparkling seaside town is a
breath of fresh air compared to the capital Mexico
City.
A hot spot for sea and
art lovers, there is beauty
in everything you see from
the red tiled houses, cobbled streets and ocean
views. Although a major
tourist destination, Vallarta has managed to stay
clear of clichés and remains in essence a quiet
fishing village.

The best place to buy
local souvenirs is the
historic Rio Cuale Market near the Cuale River. Here you will find
plenty of Huichol culture arts and crafts as
well as mainstream
beach dresses and
wrestling masks. Shopping malls, including
Galerias Vallarta Maritime and the Plaza
Peninsula, are great for
getting more generic
souvenirs. If it’s jewelry and antiques you’re
after, go for a stroll
along the Malecón
boardwalk.
BRENDA NUÑEZ

First
time?
On top of the endless stretch of
pristine coastline,
there are plenty
of outdoor activities to keep you
busy here. Go
horseback riding
along the coast,
deep sea diving or
fishing or for a
jeep ride through
the jungle. If
you’re brave
enough, go
bungee jumping
into the ocean
(vallartaadventures.com).
Nature lovers
will enjoy a trip
to the Botanical
Gardens (vbgardens.org), where
they will find out
more about local
flowers,
including
orchids.

Market crafts

Pacific

Paradise

this holiday season

Give & Receive the Gift of Travel

GET IT
ANYTIME.
ANYWHERE.

B.C. REG NO.2622

Give a Travel Certiﬁcate
and you receive one!
Call for complete details.

The Santa Clause 3

TONIGHT at 8
1-888-842-4367 • hagenstravel.com

cbc.ca/holiday

Scan this now,
to get more
on your mobile.

Eat and
drink!
For a traditional breakfast, head to Mama
Rosa (mamarosavallarta.com). Their refried
beans, empanadas and
café de olla (cinnamon
coffee) are the perfect
start to the day. El Brujo is another option, especially if you like
molcajetes (steak,
onions and white
cheese in pepper sauce,
with flour tortilla,
beans and guacamole).
Restaurant La Leche
(lalecherestaurant.
com) is perfect for a
late lunch or dinner.

metronews.ca

food

A sweet ending to the holidays
This unique upside down cake is a nice escape from your typical frosted Christmas treats
EMILY RICHARDS

HOLIDAY
HELPER
EMILY RICHARDS
FOOD@METRONEWS.CA

This stunning
cake brings
the sweet and
vanilla scented flavour of
birch syrup to pears, and it
would work just as well
with firm baking apples.
The dark colour of pure
birch syrup enhances the
cake and adds a unique
flavour. Try it in other baking where you would use
vanilla extract as a start.
You can make this cake
ahead up to two days and
warm it up slightly before
serving it with a dollop of
whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon

Holiday prep
We’re here to help
This is the final edition of
Emily Richard’s Holiday
Helper. Check out
metronews.ca/food for past
editions.

3

Peel, quarter and core
pears. Slice pears into
about ¼ inch (5 mm)
thick slices, lengthwise.
Arrange over maple mixture in concentric circles
overlapping each other
slightly. Set aside.
In bowl, beat butter and
sugar until ﬂuﬀy. Add
eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Beat in vanilla. In another
bowl, combine ﬂour, cardamom, baking powder,
soda and salt. Alternately, stir ﬂour mix and sour

cream into butter mix
making 3 additions of
ﬂour and 2 of sour cream
until combined (batter
will be thick).

A delicious and
classic party offering

This recipe serves 16.

23

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

In a large skillet heat
olive oil over medium
heat. Add onions, shallots, garlic, salt and
pepper and cook for 15
to 18 minutes, stirring
occasionally or until
onions are browned
and caramelized. If garlic begins to brown too
much, add a few tablespoons of water and
continue cooking.

Let mixture cool for 10
minutes, then transfer
to a food processor and
puree until smooth.
Add cottage cheese,
thyme and marjoram.
Purée again until
smooth. Stir in chopped
chives.
Serve immediately or
cover and refrigerate
for at least an hour for
flavours to meld.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/
ADAPTED BY EMILY

at the Holiday Inn Vancouver Downtown

CELEBRITY CHEF. FOR MORE,

Join us on December 25th for a traditional
Christmas dinner with all the ﬁxings, $29.95.
Seatings at 4pm and 7pm.
Reservations recommended.

VISIT

1110 Howe St. 604.623.6856

RICHARDS (PROFESSIONAL
HOME ECONOMIST,
COOKBOOK AUTHOR AND A TV

EMILYRICHARDSCOOKS.CA)

24

metronews.ca

work & education

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

Mix learning with living it up
One student weighs in on the importance of balancing work and play while piecing through post-secondary

STUDENT
VOICE
AYSHA KHALIQ
TALENTEGG.CA

I moved to Nova Scotia to
attend school full-time.
Cape Breton University
(CBU) has an awesome business school where I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
only study and learn, but I
also enjoyed my life more
than I ever had before.
There are many reasons
why I call my time there
the best days of my life. If I
have to explain in a few
lines, what I loved the most
was the super friendly
learning
environment,
highly qualified teachers
with a lot of experience,

the library â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such a good
source of research in physical and electronic forms,
the sports complex with
many free-of-cost facilities
and last but not least my
residence.
When I moved to Cape
Breton, I did not know a
single person there. In the
beginning, I was quite concerned what my life would
be like there without family and friends.
However, surprisingly,
when I left the university, I
knew many people from security guards, cafĂŠ workers,
librarians to professors and
students and I was filled
with good memories from
all of them. Now I am very
blessed to have a big circle
of wonderful family and

Where Aysha is now

Before my graduation, I was offered a few positions. I
took my time making a decision and kept the idea of
career advancement in my mind. Finally, I accepted a
personal banking officer position at Scotiabank.

We should try to balance
getting good grades, building networks, and enjoying
our time.
TALENTEGG.CA, CANADAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ONLINE CAREER RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS AND
RECENT GRADS, WANTS TO HEAR
YOUR STUDENT VOICE. SHARE IT AT
TALENTEGG.CA.

What I learned
Key take-aways from
Ayshaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience

Aysha Khaliq believes schools should have more
programs in place to help students assess what direction
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to head in after graduation.

friends on the other side of
Canada too.
In the beginning of my
last semester, I started applying for different jobs
and I focused on the specific industry I was interested
in.
Since I had started looking early, I had enough
time to find the right place
in a specific industry and

find the right job.
In October 2010, I graduated with an MBA and the
Valedictorian designation
from Cape Breton University and a few job offers.
I believe schools should
have a special program in
the last two semesters of
graduate studies in order to
help students figure out
what they want to do in the

future. If students have the
right plan from the start, it
helps them to get into the
right industry too.
In general, my advice for
students would be that our
university days wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come
back. We should have as
much fun as we can. However, at the same time opportunity wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t knock on
the door again and again.

Travel for school and work
while you can. It might
seem scary at first, but
youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll learn and grow a lot!
Plan the next steps in your
career or education before
you graduate so youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not
stuck with nothing to do.
Try to stay balanced in
everything that you do â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
success takes hard work,
networking and fun.

Are universities going to the dogs?
ISTOCK

BRUCE
WALSH

LIFE@METRONEWS.CA
MWN IN PHILADELPHIA

Over the last decade, the
number of pet-friendly
dorms has been on the
rise, albeit at a caged
snailâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pace. In 2010 the
New York Times put the
number of campuses with
pet-friendly housing at
just 12, and most were
small, private colleges.
But 2012 may prove to

be the tipping point, as
many administrators in
university housing say
this is the hottest topic in
their field.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In local meetings of
[the Association of College and University] Housing Officers, we are often
the institution that people are looking for answers from on this issue,â&#x20AC;?
says Ben Falter, the director of housing at Stetson
University in Florida. Stetson currently has 60 pet-

friendly individual units
on campus. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People are
really pressing to know
how to do it and how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
working for us.â&#x20AC;?
Stetson became petfriendly in 2010, after incoming president Wendy
B. Libby pressed the issue.
Libby is the former president of Stephens College,
ranked second-most petfriendly school in the nation by Petside.com.
But even at the most
liberal colleges, many ad-

Throw me a
bone, will ya?

ministrators still see pitfalls.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had a lot of discus-

Need WORK?
Fun Flexible Call Centre

Open 6 Days a week 9am to 9pm
Various Shifts/Full and Part Time

PAID WEEKLY
Call Martin at

604.420.7962

sion around things like,
will dorms be inspected
to ensure that animals are

well cared for? Who will
be responsible for that?
How will we set standards?â&#x20AC;? says Unity Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant professor
of wildlife, Sarah Cunningham. Unity decided
against
pet-friendly
dorms this year.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to have a
plan to make sure youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
taking care of these animals humanely if, as a
college, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to be
responsible for students
having animals.â&#x20AC;?

“RIM expects
that its employees conduct
themselves in
a manner reflective of our
strong principles and standards of business behaviour.”
So read the press statement released by Research
in Motion after last week’s
news story about two of its
(now former) high-flying
executives who were fired
for excessive drinking on
an Air Canada flight.
Although the story initially raised eyebrows because the plane was
diverted and forced to
land due to their conduct,
it also poses an interesting
workplace law issue because the employees were
fired by RIM for their conduct — even though it occurred away from the
workplace.
Generally, employees’
conduct outside of work is
immune from discipline.
But, in some circumstances, an employer has a
right to interfere:

LOOKING
TO MAKE
A CAREER
CHANGE?
Read
every
Monday &
Wednesday.

The higher the position an employee holds within their company can occasionally
dictate whether he or she might be acceptably punished for out-of-work misbehaviour.

• When an employer’s interests or reputation is
jeopardized by an employee’s off-duty behaviour, this
can be cause for immediate
dismissal without pay. In
the RIM case, the executives’ behaviour was immediately broadcast in the
media and news, linking
them back to their employer. Although RIM had no
hand in their conduct, the
negative publicity it faced
as a result of the executives’ behaviour justified its
reaction: a press release distancing itself from their actions and their prompt
dismissal.
• Criminal behaviour unrelated to the workplace but
which injures or potentially injures an employer’s in-

terests can amount to
cause for dismissal. In one
case, an employer successfully defended itself from a
former employee who was
charged with a crime, even
though he was not yet convicted. The court sided with
the company because of
the potential damage to its
reputation.
• More recently, an Ontario
court found that an employee who occupies a
heightened position of
trust has greater off-duty
responsibilities to the employer. In that case, the employee was fired for
harassing a co-worker away
from work. The employee’s
senior human resources
position and the fact that
he helped distribute harass-

ment policies at work contributed to his failure at trial.
• In some cases actual
damage to an employer’s
reputation may not be necessary if there is a potential
for harm. In a notorious
Canadian case, a bank
teller was fired after her
employer learned that she
was living with a convicted
bank robber. She had done
nothing wrong, but she
was still in a conflict of interest.

250,000
Immigrants
are expected
in 2012.
YOU can help them get here. Become
an Immigration consultant. Full time
and part time begin January 2012.
Online program begins March 2012

Where off-duty behaviour
poses a workplace problem, it can follow you back
to your desk.
DANIEL A. LUBLIN IS AN EMPLOYMENT
LAWYER WITH WHITTEN & LUBLIN.

The Canucks (20-11-2)
and Detroit (21-10-1)
have both won seven
of their last 10 games.
The Red Wings defeated Edmonton 3-2 on
Monday, bringing
their record in Western Canada to 14-2-3
since the 2008-09 season. Pavel Datsyuk
was held pointless in
the game, snapping
his five-game, ninepoint streak. He leads
Detroit with 33 points.
Jimmy Howard leads
all goaltenders with
20 wins so far this season. Drew Miller has
three goals in the past
two games, including
the game-winner
against the Oilers.
THE CANADIAN PRESS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

Raymond feeling thankful
ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

THE HOCKEY
NEWS
EDWARD FRASER

VANCOUVER@METRONEWS.CA

In the eight
games since
he returned
to
the
Canucks’
lineup, Mason
Raymond has been great. At
times he’s been their best
player. He’s moved seamlessly up and down the lineup. His three goals and six
points slot him fourth on
the team in points-pergame average.
He is, not surprisingly,
pleased with his production so far. But, hockey
aside, he’s also thankful
just to be healthy.
“You appreciate the use
of your arms and your legs
and all the little things
that allow you to live
everyday life,” Raymond
said. “To be able to play a
high-level sport and to be
successful, that’s a whole
other level. I’m very
pleased with where I’m at
considering where I was a
short time ago.
Where he was a short
time ago was in a back
brace.
Raymond
sustained
cracked vertebrae when he
was hit into the boards
awkwardly June 13, Game
6 of the Stanley Cup final.
He spent two months in
the brace before slowly returning to train. Talk to
people around the team
about his return and the
discussion quickly turns to
how hard the 26-year-old

has worked to get back to
where he was before the
injury: A key component
in the Canucks’ attack (the
team has earned at least a
point in all but one game
since his return).
“I watched him for almost three months in the
gym,” said coach Alain Vigneault. “You have to give
him a lot of credit because
he really put in the time
and effort.
“Everyone is really
pleased with where he’s at
considering he was coming back after that serious
injury. He put in so much
time with the people who
worked with him, from
our trainers and conditioning coaches to his own
physio people. He came in
prepared and confident.
And he’s played extremely
well.”
Healing after a major
injury must occur between
the ears, too. There was no
doubt Raymond and the
team would make sure
everything was OK with
him physically prior to allowing him to return. But
how would he react when
thrown into game action?
Would he be tentative?
The answer has been a
resounding no. Raymond
is diving into the dirty areas and has not shied from
the physical side of the
game.
“I’ve been through a lot
mentally and that’s part of
being in a good shape
physically, too.”
His return puts the
team, slowly creeping
back up the Western Conference standings, in good
shape as well.

Sutter set to take over as Kings coach
BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES FILE

Scan code for
more sports.

Darryl Sutter will be the Los
Angeles Kings’ next head
coach, general manager
Dean Lombardi announced
Tuesday.
Sutter will assume his
duties beginning with practice
Wednesday,
after
which the club will hold a
news conference to introduce him. He takes over a
Kings team (15-14-4) that
entered Tuesday three
points out of a playoff spot
in the Western Conference
with the second-fewest
goals in the league — just

10
Darryl Sutter at the
2009 NHL draft
in Montreal.

three more than the New
York Islanders. The Kings
are currently riding a streak
of 12 consecutive games in

Darryl Sutter-coached
teams have made the
playoﬀs in 10 of his 12
seasons on the bench,
including in 2004 when
his Calgary Flames
made the Stanley Cup
ﬁnal.
which they’ve scored no
more than two goals in regulation.
The Kings, whose next

game is Thursday night in
L.A. against the struggling
Anaheim Ducks, fired
coach Terry Murray on Dec.
12 in Boston before starting
a four-game road trip. Assistant coach John Stevens
was 2-2 on an interim basis.
It’s the ninth time in
franchise history the Kings
will finish a season with a
different coach than the
one they started with. They
made the playoffs on three
of those occasions.
Sutter, 53, has a career
regular-season record of

409-320-131 and a 47-54
mark in the playoffs. He has
won division titles as coach
in Chicago, San Jose and
Calgary.
He also was general
manager of the Flames
from the 2003-04 season
until he resigned Dec. 28,
2010, with the team sitting
last in the Western Conference.
Sutter is one of nine
head coaches in NHL history to lead at least three different clubs to 100 wins.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

metronews.ca

drive
Cargo

Fuel consumption

Engine, steering

The interior has been given the
update treatment, providing a slightly
enlarged passenger area but at the expense of slightly reduced cargo
volume.
This time, though, maximizing the
load floor is a snap with the new folddown rear seat that operates by
flipping a pair of levers located just inside the tailgate.

Fuel consumption has improved to 9.0 l/100
km city and 6.4 highway for front-wheel-drive models (formerly 10.5/7.3). All-wheel-drive models are rated at 9.2 l/100 km city and
6.6 highway (previously 10.1/7.5).
The improvements are attributed to a
new anti-friction coating for the pistons, a
faster-activating on-demand AWD system as
well as a revised five-speed automatic transmission.

Getting CR-V owners to work, the gym, or the
daycare is a revised 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine that
makes 185 horsepower and 163 pound-feet of
torque, which is slightly more than the previous 2.4.
From observation, Honda engineers have largely
succeeded at smoothing out the CR-V’s ride and creating a quieter interior. On the down side, the newly
installed “Motion-Adaptive” electric power-assisted
steering (called EPAS) feels a bit numb, especially
when driving straight down the highway.

Nissan Rogue
Base price: $25,400
Looks like a smaller
version of Nissan’s
Murano, which is a
bonus.

Subtle changes are sometimes the best: reorganizing a few lines at the back creates this dramatic proﬁle.

Resculpted
not recreated
MALCOLM GUNN

DRIVE@METRONEWS.CA
WHEELBASE MEDIA

Calling all cool moms;
your new fourth-generation Honda CR-V chariot
awaits.
Of course Honda’s popular tall wagon isn’t just for
active women with toddlers in tow, but according
to the automaker, the
“cool moms” segment
makes up, or significantly
influences, the largest portion of CR-V buyers. They,
along with others seeking
a roomy ride with allweather, all-road capability, will appreciate the
vehicle’s car-like behaviour and economical operation.
CR-V devotees will not
easily spot the latest version of Honda’s compact

“cute ute” since it closely
mirrors the outgoing version in all key exterior dimensions. What’s more,
the general shape remains
only moderately tinkeredwith, including updated
nose and tail section plus a
more dramatically shaped
rear roof pillar that introduces a bit more drama to
the vehicle’s styling. Honda claims that the new CRV’s shape, along with
modifications to the undercarriage to increase air
flow, has reduced fuel-robbing aerodynamic drag by
eight per cent.
Honda seems content
with not rocking the boat
with its latest CR-V, perhaps sensing that the time
isn’t quite right to introduce a totally clean-sheet
design. The cool-mom
crowd would likely agree.

Honda CR-V

Hyundai
Santa Fe

The opening is wide and the load ﬂoor is deeper and
extends 1.5 metres forward, but you’ll have to wiggle,
shimmy and wedge items around the bulbous trim panels
for the wheel housings.

The green button to the left of the steering wheel is
“ECON,” which optimizes the transmission and air
conditioning for maximum fuel economy, providing you’re
driving in a thrifty manner.

t’s perfectly fine
that the vehicle’s
main role during
the holidays is helping us get to where
we want to be, like
with our families, or
extremely far away from
our families where there is
also a good beach.
We don’t need to start
stringing lights on every
Ford Taurus, or going with
eggnog-flavoured 5W30 engine oil over the holidays.
That would be forcing it
if you ask me — like attaching fake antlers to a cat.
Like everybody, my most
vivid memories of driving
to a family Christmas event
occurred when I was a kid,
when Christmas was feverishly crucial.
Unfortunately the drives
that stick out the most
were the long ones to my
uncle’s farm up north.
Back then I routinely got
car sick, so I remember a
few times standing beside
the car in the snow on
some back road, in full
puke mode. Hey, not every
memory has to be a stupen-

Chances are your vehicle will be involved in some sort of memory you create during the holidays.

dously good one. The important thing is that
they’re memorable enough
to lodge in your memory
for the long haul.
Christmas Eve 17 years
ago, when our daughter
was just a year old, we
stayed overnight at my
mother’s home, the ancestral bungalow in the suburbs. As usual, the kid
refused to go to sleep at the
appointed time — a habit
she manages to maintain
to this day. When she was

Not every memory has to be a
stupendously good one. The
important thing is that they’re
memorable enough to lodge in your
memory for the long haul.
still screaming well past
midnight, I did what all fathers do under such circumstances — buckled her
into the car seat, and drove
around aimlessly until she

fell asleep.
Driving around my old
hometown, in the dead quiet of Christmas night, decorations
and
lights
everywhere, daughter in

the back slowly falling
asleep, well … it wasn’t the
worst half hour I ever spent
behind the wheel.
These days we have to
make a relatively short run
on Christmas Eve, about an
hour door to door.
Simple, right? And with
no chance of vomit?
Well, thankfully nausea
is no longer in the picture,
but things are far from simple. Trying not to forget
and pack every present, trying to leave on time with

four people with four different agendas, and trying
to properly secure a broccoli casserole and Greek
salad somewhere in the
cargo area, is exhaustive
and tricky stuff.
But that’s precisely why
there is such euphoria
when we’re finally on our
way. Nothing left to do but
enjoy the ride, hope there
is no Feta cheese disaster in
the trunk, and look forward to the festivities that
will soon unfold.

LOOKING FOR A USED CAR?
CHECK OUT THOUSANDS OF
LISTED VEHICLES WITH US!
Try out the Canadian Black Book Vehicle Evaluator for trade-in value, average asking price and
future value of virtually every car and truck manufactured since 1998! Plus, you can search
through thousands of used cars listings to find one that’s right for you!
powered by

Visit www.metronews.ca/drive

SCAN
HERE
FOR MORE

GREAT OFFERS

Wise customers read the fine print: •, *, ±, ‡, § The Best Present Ever Event offers are limited time offers which apply to retail deliveries of selected new and unused models purchased from participating dealers on or after December 1, 2011. Dealer order/trade may be necessary. Offers subject to change and may be extended without
notice. See participating dealers for complete details and conditions. •$19,998 Purchase Price applies to 2012 Dodge Journey SE Canada Value Package (22F+CLE) only and includes $2,000 Consumer Cash Discount. Pricing includes freight ($1,400) and excludes licence, insurance, registration, any dealer administration fees and other
applicable fees and applicable taxes. Dealer order/trade may be necessary. Dealer may sell for less. See participating dealers for complete details. *Consumer Cash Discounts are offered on select new 2011/2012 vehicles and are manufacturer-to-dealer incentives, which are deducted from the negotiated price before taxes. Amounts vary by
vehicle. See your dealer for complete details. ±The $500 Holiday Bonus Cash offer includes applicable taxes and is available on the retail purchase/lease of the following eligible vehicles between December 1, 2011 and January 3, 2012 at participating dealers: any new 2011/2012 Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram or FIAT model excluding only the
following; Chrysler 200 LX, Dodge Journey Canada Value Package/SE Plus (22F & 22G), Grand Caravan Canada Value Package, Grand Caravan Cargo Van (C/V), Avenger SE/Canada Value Package, Caliber SE, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, Wrangler Sport, Compass Sport 4x2 & 4x4 (base 24D, 25D, 26D & 2BD), Patriot Sport 4x2 & 4x4 (base
24D, 25D, 26D, 2BD & 28D), Ram Cargo Van (C/V), 1500 Reg Cab 4x2 & 4x4, and Cab & Chassis 4x2 & 4x4 models. $500 Bonus Cash will be deducted from the negotiated purchase price after taxes or may be used, at customer’s option, to reduce their first monthly payment or towards the purchase of Mopar accessories or service packages.
Some conditions apply. See your dealer for complete details. ‡4.99% purchase financing for up to 96 months available on the new 2012 Dodge Journey SE Canada Value Package model to qualified customers on approved credit through Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank. Dealer order/trade may be necessary. Dealer may sell for less. See
your dealer for complete details. Example: 2012 Dodge Journey SE Canada Value Package with a Purchase Price of $19,998 (including applicable Consumer Cash Discount) financed at 4.99% over 96 months with $0 down payment equals 208 biweekly payments of $117 with a cost of borrowing of $4,338 and a total obligation of $24,336.
Pricing includes freight ($1,400) and excludes licence, insurance, registration, any dealer administration fees, other dealer charges and other applicable fees and taxes. Dealer order/trade may be necessary. Dealer may sell for less. §2012 Dodge Journey SXT shown. Price including applicable Consumer Cash Discount: $25,395. Pricing
includes freight ($1,400) and excludes licence, insurance, registration, any dealer administration fees and other applicable fees and applicable taxes. Dealer order/trade may be necessary. Dealer may sell for less. ^Based on January through August 2011 R. L. Polk sales total registrations. ¤Based on 2012 EnerGuide Fuel Consumption
Guide ratings published by Natural Resources Canada. Transport Canada test methods used. Your actual fuel consumption may vary. 2012 Dodge Journey SE – Hwy: 7.5L/100 KM and City: 10.8L/100 KM. ®SIRIUS and the dog logo are registered trademarks of SIRIUS Satellite Radio Inc. ®Jeep is a registered trademark of Chrysler Group LLC.

HURRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TOTAL DISCOUNTS UP TO
THE 2011S
*±
$
ARE CLEARING
ON THE REMAINING 2011 MODEL LINE UP.
OUT FAST!

11,250

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.

Dodge.ca/Offers

MPG HWY

30

metronews.ca

drive

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2011

The bad roads make good cars at auto test facilities
Before any new vehicle design makes it to market, it
must undergo extensive
testing, with much of it
done at special facilities
called proving grounds.
These contain the same
road conditions as you’d
find in the real world, including broken concrete
and potholes.
The difference is that
while real roads start out
smooth and gradually deteriorate, the rough ones
in proving grounds have to
be made that way right

from the start.
“We’ve got a wide variety of roads that we use,”
says Frank Barhorst, supervisor of the Product Usage
Measurements and Applications at General Motors’
facility in Milford, Michigan.
“We test on bad roads
and good roads. It all depends on what you’re looking for.”
The Milford Proving
Grounds contains a wide
variety of surfaces, including smooth asphalt, worn

DRIVING
FORCE
JIL MCINTOSH
DRIVE@METRONEWS.CA

concrete, gravel roads and
closely-set ridges called
chatter bumps, along with
a railway crossing, highway overpass and off-road
courses.
Engineers drive over the
surfaces to evaluate such
considerations as han-

dling, durability and vehicle noise, including interior squeaks and rattles.
The rough roads don’t
have to look like the real
thing, but they must accurately reproduce the same
conditions.
Milford’s “potholes” are
actually made of metal and
set into the road surface.
The engineers can even
recreate actual roads, using an innovative scanner
that produces a 3-D digital
representation in millimeters as it’s driven along.

The digital data is used
both for the test road and
for a computer simulation
used during the vehicle’s
initial design.
“We can predict the
loads that a vehicle will
see before one’s even
built,”
Barhorst
says.
“That’s the best way to do
this type of work.”
The simulation is so accurate that driving the real
car on the real road usually just confirms what the
computer predicted.
One of the toughest

things can be finding construction crews to build
the type of road they’d normally be fixing.
Although there are a
few firms that specialize in
building proving grounds,
there are always challenges.
“It takes a very specialized company,” Barhorst
says.
“It sometimes takes discussion and sharing secrets. It’s one of the more
interesting and fun parts
of my job.”

You can now post your kiss,
and read even more kisses,
online at
metronews.ca/kiss.
A Spaceman,
Consummation has begun
and I am your guide.
Together we unlock the secrets of the stars. Your signal is fading. You are... my
love. A NIGHT OWL
My Prince, Every morning is
a wonderful morning waking up with you next to me!
I love everything about you,
think of you always and
miss you when your gone.
YOUR DIRTY GIRL

RJ Romeo, I miss you babe
and I can't wait for you to
come home to me for xmas....I miss you and love
you lots more than you'll
ever know. UR BABIEE

Aries March 21-April 20 It may
seem as if things are going wrong
and there is little you can do about
it, but it’s all part of a wider plan.
Taurus April 21-May 21 If you
have a well defined goal and a sensible plan, you really cannot lose.
Gemini May 22-June 21 You
need to talk over your problems
with someone you know will lend
a sympathetic ear.
Cancer June 22-July 22 Is that
the real you the world can see? Or
is it one of your masks? If it’s the
latter don’t forget that you are
playing a role.

Leo July 23-Aug.23 Look for
ways to co-operate with those you
work and do business with. You
have wasted far too much time trying to outdo each other.
Virgo Aug. 24- Sept. 22 You
have become a bit too set in your
ways of late and what happens
today will bring that fact home.
Libra Sept. 23-Oct. 23 Concentrate on the things that matter and
don’t waste time on each and
every passing distraction.
Scorpio Oct. 24-Nov. 22 You
may feel out of touch with the
spirit of the times, but is that bad?

Write a funny caption for the
image above and send it to
play@metronews.ca —
the winning caption will be
published in tomorrow’s
Metro.

RÉMI

WITH METRO KISS

Tell your friends, family or that secret crush just how you feel with a Metro Kiss...
then share it with the world through Facebook and Twitter.
All kisses will appear online and a selection will appear in print too!